(Jerusalem Post) Sharon Udasin - Prof. Daniel Hillel, 81, is this year's winner of the World Food Prize, recognizing "individuals who have contributed landmark achievements in increasing the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world." Hillel is receiving the prize for his groundbreaking work in micro-irrigation and his success in bridging cultural gaps to solve a global issue. "I helped to develop the principle of shifting from low-frequency, high-volume irrigation to high-frequency, low-volume irrigation," he said. The common practice had been to saturate the soil with large volumes of water through periodic flooding. But the invention of plastic tubing in the 1960s made it possible to "deliver small volumes of water by perforating the tubes or attaching little emitters into them," he said. While others were also involved in conceptualizing this method, Hillel was instrumental in disseminating these techniques all over the world.
2012-06-13 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive